Knife Attack Shakes Japan

“A young Japanese man went on a stabbing rampage Tuesday at a facility for the mentally disabled where he had been fired, officials said, killing 19... When he was done, Kanagawa prefectural authorities said, 26-year-old Satoshi Uematsu had left dead or injured nearly a third of the almost 150 patients... It is Japan’s deadliest mass killing in decades” (Associated Press, July 26, 2016). This vicious knife attack is just one of many horrific crimes committed in recent weeks around the globe.

The Bible records at the time of the end, Satan and his demons will be “cast out” of heaven and come to earth “having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time” (Revelation 12:9-12). Satan’s anger will be stoked by knowing that his influence in this world is about to end, and that he is about to be replaced by the rule of Jesus Christ (Revelation 20:1-3). When Satan is finally “cast out” of heaven, tragedies like this recent one in Japan will become far more frequent than they are today. These terrible tragedies should sober us, but also remind us that Jesus Christ is going to return.